Although most of the customers of the 11 public water suppliers drawing water from the river will notice only the 'hard water' problem when they see the spots and cloudy residue on glassware emerging from their dishwashers, industry and utility companies are experiencing significantly higher water treatment costs.

There was a time when the captains of the steam ships that ran along the rivers here would not use the river water for their ship's engines. They would only use 'fresh water.'

Meanwhile, at the same time, there were seven beaches along the banks of the rivers here for swimmers -- all within the city limits.

Here we go again. We'll give the coal-fired power plants cleaner water than we'll serve ourselves and our kids from the tap. Likewise, we build more expensive places for the Penguins in the PPG Zoo & Aquarium and the Penguins in the National Aviary to swim within -- as opposed to places for our kids to swim.